Susan McMaster
Susan McMaster (born 1950) is a Canadian poet, literary editor, and spoken word/performance poet Life McMaster came to Ottawa with her family in 1955. She attended First Avenue Public School, Elmdale, Connaught, Lisgar Collegiate (1966), Carleton University (B.A., English, 1970, and graduate studies, journalism), and Ottawa Teachers' College (Elementary Certificate 1971). While she taught for a few years, McMaster has spent most of her career as an editor, notably at the National Gallery of Canada from 1989-2008 as an editor of some 40 art catalogs and founder of the Gallery magazine Vernissage. She and her husband Ian live in Ottawa, and spend part of each summer at their cottage in Nova Scotia on the Bay of Fundy. They have 2 grown daughters, Morel, and Aven (m. to Mark Sundaram), parents of their grandchildren Eric, born 2006, and Edmund, born 2010. McMaster was an original member of the intermedia group First Draft, (1981-), with members including Andrew McClure, Colin Morton, Alrick Huebener, Roberta Huebener, Claude Dupuis, Peter Thomas, and David Parsons. Together, they recorded, published, and performed some 40 times across Canada in the 1980s. Since 1996, she has been the wordsmith in Geode Music & Poetry (formerly SugarBeat), making four spoken word and music recordings with Jennifer Giles on keyboards, Alrick Huebener on bass, Gavin McLintock on sax, and friends, including Dave Broscoe, Jamie Gullikson, Mike Essoudry, Petr Cancura, Mark Molnar, John Higney, Linsey Wellman, Penn Kemp, Colin Morton, and Max Middle. She has performed and recorded with SugarBeat and Geode at 50-plus venues, including the Banff Centre, the National Library, the Kingston Fringe Jazz Festival, Rasputin's, the Blue Skies Music Festival, the Ottawa Folk Festival, the Elora Music Festival, Artscape, WordBeat, Morningside, Go, the National Arts Center Fourth Stage, and the Ottawa International Writers Festival, and has read and performed at festivals and venues in France and Italy. Her recent poetry books include Paper Affair: Poems selected and new (Black Moss 2010), Pith & Wry: Canadian Poetry (Scrivener Press 2010), and Crossing Arcs: Alzheimer's, My Mother, and Me (Black Moss Press 2010). She is the author of several wordmusic collections, performance poetry recordings, and scripts; has edited poetry anthologies and series; and was the founding editor of the national feminist and art magazine Branching Out (1973-). McMaster's mid-life memoir The Gargoyle's Ear: Writing in Ottawa (Black Moss 2007) recounts stories from the projects, contacts, and interests that comprise her committed life as a poet. Her millennial book, Waging Peace, collects the poetry, art, and texts from Convergence: Poems for Peace, which presented art-wrapped poems from across Canada to all MPs and Senators in 2001. Accompanying the book is her spoken word CD Until the Light Bends, with Geode Music & Poetry, from Pendas Productions. McMaster is a past president (2011--2012) of the League of Canadian Poets, and a member of Writers Union of Canada, the Nova Scotia Writers' Federation, PEN (Canada), the Writers' Trust, SOCAN, Access copyright, and the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Recognition Her poetry collection Until the Light Bends from Black Moss Press was shortlisted for the 2005 Archibald Lampman Award for poetry, and the 2005 Ottawa Book Award for best book of the year. Crossing Arcs: Alzheimer's, my mother, and me was a finalist for the 2010 Acorn-Plantos People's Poetry Prize, the 2010 Ottawa Book Awards, and the 2010 Archibald Lampman Poetry Prize. Publications Poetry *''Seven Poems''. Ouroboros, 1986. *''Dark Galaxies''. Ouroboros, 1986. ISBN 0-920301-07-X *''The Hummingbird Murders''. Kingston, ON: Quarry 1992. ISBN1-55082-048-6 *''Learning to Ride''. Kingston, ON: Quarry, 1994. ISBN 1-55082-104-0 *''Uncommon Prayer: A book of dedications''. Kingston, ON: Quarry, 1997. ISBN 1-55082-196-2 *''La Deriva del Pianeta / World Shift'' (edited & translated by Ada Donati). Schifanoia Editore, 2003. ISBN 88-87882-30-4 *''Until the Light Bends''. Windsor, ON: Black Moss, 2004. ISBN 0-88753-397-3 *''The Gargoyle's Left Ear: Writing in Ottawa''. Windsonr, ON: Black Moss, 2007. ISBN 978-0-88753-443-0 *''Ygdrasil: A journal of the poetic arts'' (edited by Klaus J. Gerken), 16/5, #181, May 2008; reissued April 2011 (issue on McMaster's selected works 1981-2007), ISSN 1480-6401 *''Crossing Arcs: Alzheimer's, my mother, and me''. Windsor, ON: Black Moss 2009. ISBN 978-0-88753462-1 *''Paper Affair: Poems selected and new''. Windsor, ON: Black Moss 2010. ISBN 978-0-88753-468-3 Edited *''Branching Out: The national feminist and arts magazine'' (founding editor 1973-75). Edmonton, Women's Magazine Society, 1973-80. *''Dangerous Graces: Women's Poetry on Stage from Fireworks!. Balmuir 1987. ISBN 0-919511-41-4 *''Illegitimate Positions: Women & Language 1987. Living Archives series of the Feminist Caucus of the League of Canadian Poets, 1992. ISBN 0-9690327-6-5, ISSN 1188-8504 *''Two Women Talking: Correspondence 1985-87, Erin Moure and Bronwen Wallace. Living Archives series of the Feminist Caucus of the League of Canadian Poets, 1993. ISBN 0-9690327-7-3 *''Bookware: Ottawa Valley Poetry (co-edited by Colin Morton). Ottawa Valley Book Festival/League of Canadian Poets, 1994. ISBN 1-89216-02-1 *''Siolence: Poets on Women, Violence and Silence''. Kingston, ON: Quarry 1998. ISBN 1-550821-58-x *''Convergence: Poems for peace''. League of Canadian Poets, 2001. ISBN1-896216-16-1 *''Waging Peace: Poetry and political action''. Penumbra Press, 2002. ISBN 1-894131-37-1 *''Sugar Mule: A Literary Magazine'' (guest editor). "The Canadian Issue" #33, 2009.) *''Pith & Wry: Canadian Poetry''. Scrivener Press, 2010. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy the League of Canadian Poets.Susan McMaster, Poets.ca, League of Canadian Poets. Web, May 25, 2013. See also *List of Canadian poets References Notes External links * Susan McMaster at Canadian Poetry Online (6 poems). *Read a Poem: Poetry available online. ;Audio / video *Hear a Poem: Recordings available online. *Susan McMaster at YouTube ;About *Susan McMaster at the League of Canadian Poets *Susan McMaster Poems Official webpage at National Capital FreeNet Category:Canadian poets Category:Canadian Quakers Category:1950 births Category:Living people Category:Canadian women writers Category:Carleton University alumni Category:Literary editors Category:20th-century poets Category:20th-century women writers Category:21st-century poets Category:21st-century women writers Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Performance poets Category:Spoken word poets Category:Women poets